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Postgame quotes (3/19)

DUSTIN BROWN
On the game winner…
“It was a deep regroup in our own zone. I got a pass with some speed on it. I just went up the wall and once I got across the blue line I just cut. It was kind of a tough play to shoot, so I just dished it wide and went to the net. There was just a rebound waiting for me.”

On coming back against the Bruins…
“Obviously it is a huge win for us. We are battling for a playoff spot. These road games are huge. Showing that we can come back, like we have done it many times this season, this is just another example. It just happened to be against one of the better teams in the league. I think we played pretty desperate in the third. That was the difference.”

On the importance of tonight’s win…
“It was huge, especially considering we had that game where we lost against Nashville where we lost in the last minute. They are ahead of us in the standings so that was a big blow. We wanted to get these two points after a big loss. Certainly to do it against one of the best teams on the road was a big lift for this team.”

On where things turned around for the Kings…
“I would say it was the power play goal. I think it was with 10 seconds left and it was just a scramble. We got that first one by Thomas and we peppered them from there after. Maybe it was just that first goal was all we needed.”

JONATHAN QUICK
On the importance of tonight’s win…
“We are a few points back in the playoff race and those were a big two points we stole at the end of that game there.”

On the key to tonight’s game…
“The team played great in front of me all game long. A lot of my play is due to the way the team played in front of me. They get all the credit. They battled all game long and they got a lot of pucks at Thomas. He was great through the whole game and we were able to squeak a few pucks in there at the end and push them to overtime. Brownie got a big goal.”

On what led to the teams turnaround in tonight’s game…
“We just had to keep doing what we were doing. We were playing well all game and we finally got some bounces going our way.”

On what he felt his biggest save of the night was…
“On their power play they had a lot of chances, but I forget who shot it, but he had the top corner labeled pretty well [Ryder]. It was big for me to make that save for the team to keep us in there. They responded well and they battled hard. The PK closed it out in front of me. It was a great game.”

DREW DOUGHTY
On coming back in tonight’s game…
“We came in after the second period and we knew it was do or die. We had to get those goals and we had to win the game. We want to make the playoffs. That’s the whole thing with the LA Kings this year. We will do anything it takes.”

On gaining confidence from tonight’s win…
“It was definitely special. They are the best team in the Eastern Conference and to play them like that and out-shoot them and winning the game gives us confidence. We have a couple games left on the road trip and I think due to winning this game we are going to have confidence going down the stretch.”

TERRY MURRAY
On the performance of the Kings tonight…
“We need to play our games with desperation. It needs to be with structure and system, but it needs to be with desperation. When you are down two to nothing you have to push up hard with everybody. You need to be aggressive and get pucks to the net. I think what we saw with the end result with this hockey club, and the young guys that were making it happen for us, is a great learning situation for them. It was a special kind of the situation with the Boston Bruins being a premiere team in the league, to come back, and seeing the young guys contribute the way they did it was really good. But then on the other side you saw one of our veteran guys, O’Donnell, getting the puck to the net and Brown driving for the rebound.”

On what his team did right in tonight’s game…
“There are certain things that you always look at when you are analyzing what you can do better. Overall we came to play. We weren’t in awe of the Boston Bruins. We know they are a great team but we know we have to go out and play the game. Playing with composure and playing the right way was what was talked about in the start and I thought they did a great job.”

On importance of tonight’s win…
“We know that we don’t have too many more losses in front of us where we are going to be really in trouble as far as climbing that mountain in front of us. So today was a big win for us. To start out a long road trip, we have two weeks and six road games ahead of us. To start off with a win in Boston, it is important to have that feeling as we start the rest of the trip.”

Great comeback against a top team in their building. We can hope they build on this and continue winning on this road trip and get back into the playoff hunt…
Quick played well when he was needed. No soft goals allowed. that was nice to see for a change.

Great to See Brownie get the game winner. I thought he played pretty well. Kopitar is the best player on this team and the best player we’ve seen come thru LA in a long time. He gets his nose dirty in the corners and has become a complete 2 way player. The next step for him is becoming a superstar. He’s well on his way.
Previous thread someone wanted to trade Kopitar for Nash? I wouldn’t do it straight up…let alone throw in JJ.

Doughty was terrific on both ends of the ice. I’m still amazed he’s only 19 and a rookie. Same with Simmonds. They play like seasoned veterans.
I also agree with someone from a previous thread that suggested Simmonds will likely take the place of Frolov.
In my opinion Frolov has written his ticket out of LA. We’re not privy to what the discussions are between TM and Frolov, but it seems pretty obvious that this guy just doesn’t get it. As a Kings fan hoping and praying this team gets into the playoffs, it pisses me off that one of our better players refuses to play hard when we need it most.
DL needs to get this guy out of here this summer and bring in someone who will play hard every shift and every night. Kind of like Simmonds.

Kudos to the play of Army. He gets bashed here an awful lot, but he was the guy making things happen for the Kings…not Frolov the way it should have been.
I’m 100% for bringing Army back again next year in the part time role he held this year.
I would hope that Moller gets back into the lineup tonight in place of Westgarth. Boston seemed to be taking some liberties in the corners with guys like Kopitar…where was Westgarth all night? Does this guy ever touch the puck or the opposition? Apparently, he must have come down with Westi flu..because he’s a complete no show every night.

NYkingsfan, I pretty much agree with everything you said, though I do not think there is any chance that the team makes the playoffs this year.

It’s really fun to watch though, and you can see they are just on verge of being something special. I see us as being similiar to last years Blackhawks… a very talented and special team that just missed the post season. They had to overpay for Campbell in the offseason, but the move coupled with the team getting another year of growing together has made them a dangerous contender this year and for many years in my opinion.

I think Hossa is that guy for us. For all the rumors of Kovalchuk etc Hossa would make the most sense for us. While I think we would have to overpay him in free agency as Chicago had to with Campbell, overpaying someone as talented as him makes more sense than unloading players in a trade AND paying whoever we trade for. I certainly think Hossa would mesh perfectly with Kopitar and go a long way to giving us 3 pretty potent lines. Outside of Frolov, this is going to be a gritty team that wants to win and will fight til the end. Hossa, by signing a 1 year deal in Detroit just to win a Cup when he could of signed long term somewhere else showed that winning means the world to him as well. He would fit in perfectly with our core.

Sorry to talk offseason while we are still technically alive, but this group has me excited for the first time in a long time that they can be a contender every year. This to me is the most important thing. No more one year short term fixes.

BTW – in regards to your comment about Armstrong I completely agree. As I have stated before here, I think Handzus is another guy who has gotten bashed too often. He is one of the best two way players we have. He clearly was not 75% last year let alone 100%, and we now are finally seeing what he can do when healthy.

Stonewall

Are we still lookin’ to Sunday’s game to see Mr. Justin Williams?

mrbrett7

I love Frolov, my biggest problem with him is his lack of consistency from shift to shift. Not game to game but shift to shift. He will have one shift where he dominates physically and dictates the flow of the game, and then he just disappears the rest of the night.

We all know he has the ability to do that every shift…but will he?

tantrum4

O’Sullivan was also -1 last night after an 8-1 win. Can DL do anything wrong? What a great trade so far, O’Sullivan has done just about as much as Williams, except Williams had a better +/- last night……

Ersberg

Huge win last night. It’s real nice seeing Brown get on the board with the game winner.

Simmonds is just a beast. If this kid sdds a scoring touch, he’ll be one of our future top 3 forwards.

Something tells me we’ve seen the end of Frolov. I have a sneaking suspicion that all of this disciplinary action from TM is a direct result of converstations from TM and DL regarding his future in LA. I get this feeling last nights benching was the straw broke the camels back. I really like him, and I’d hate to see him go, but he’s blowing critical defensive plays(in the eyes of TM, anyway).

Quick will equal any of the leagues best within 2 years time. Mark it down. He’ll be there. The soft goals you’ve seen this year are purely nerve related. He’s come up big when he’s called on.

JJ better stop making those soft plays that result in goals against if he wants to stay out of the dog house.

At any rate, big “W” last night. Bring on Pitt.

Ersberg

“Can DL do anything wrong? What a great trade so far”

Really? How so? I believe Rich covered how worthless of a stat +/- is.

I believe it’s a bit too soon to tell how well of a deal this was since Williams has only contributed to the teams “+/-” in ping-pong thus far.

Kris

We all love the Frolov who plays hard. The problem is like you said mbrett, shift to shift you don’t know what you are going to get. He will be entering his 7th year next year. If you are a player who does not “get it” by now, I don’t think you will. By contrast you see a guy like Kopitar who only in his third year is showing flashes of what a great two way player he will be. Reminds me a lot of Datsyuk who when faced with them same challenge of being a two-way player, responded. That being said, Datsyuk was older than Anze at the same point, but was a bit more set in his style of play.

I would shop the hell out of Frolov in the offseason. He will have a lot of value, and there are sure to be many teams out there who think they can “teach” him to be consistent.

cristobal

Ersberg,

I didn’t get to see the game yesterday, but I’ve never seen “quit” in Frolov before.
If it’s happening now, he wants out of town and I cannot blame him.
He’s been in this league almost as long as Jokinen it seems (i know he hasn’t) and never seen the post-season.
For a GM and a coach with empty trophy cabinets to be negative on this guy makes zero sense.
They’ve jacked him around all season and taken him off the line w/ Kopitar where he was one of the few Kings getting it done in the offensive column.

If there is any claim that he is inconsistent, obviously it comes from being on one of the worst teams in the league over these past 7 years.
Once again, Kings management is running a good player out of town and lying to us.
Like Cammy, Like O’Sullivan, Like Lubo, Fro has given this club everything he has. Like Brian Boyle (who cared little enough about his own development that he committed to defense in Manchester for 1/3 of a season) he’s being treated dispicably.
This is not the way to draw in promising free-agents, either.

John

Do tell, what player in the NHL dominates shift to shift?? Not even Zetterberg ot Datsyuk are capable of that! All of you are going way overboard in your hatred of Alexander Frolov (it was JJ that blew the coverage on the first goal, not Fro). Jeese, if the whole team was held to same standard as Fro, Brown, Calder, Stoll, Gauthier & Ivanans would see 4th line duty every night! I get that TM is trying to teach the kids through his treatment of Frolov, most of you don’t & want him traded…moronically!

Ersberg

Cristo-

“For a GM and a coach with empty trophy cabinets to be negative on this guy makes zero sense.”

I cannot agree with you more. I do feel he’ll be the next King to be traded, though. They’ve moved these guys around so much, especially Frolov and Sully, only for them to be disciplined and/or traded. It’s sad, really. We may as well start discussing possible trade scenarios involving Fro.

I’ll start.

Fro+Teubert+1st ’10 for Heatley. I just picked the other 2 out of the air.

Next.

Kris

Ersberg,

I was going to post that same trade scenario in my last post. Pretty funny.

stnlycupla

What a great game last night. Watching that third period and overtime gave me a feeling I haven’t had in a long time watching these Kings. Playoffs or not at least the guys have something to play for and as a fan I have something to hope for. Just last year I had the strange sensation of watching the Kings and hoping they would lose. That wasn’t fun.

Now – I hate to nitpick, and I know this is nitpicking, but as good as Kopitar played he looked awful in the face off circle. I’m not sure where his stats ended up but it appeared to me as if he had zero confidence in winning the draw especially at crucial times. I’m not sure how he is in this category overall (I know the Kings are pretty darn good). Hopefully last night was a result of lining up against a REALLY good face off team (don’t know if that is true).

cristobal

Knowing Lombardi’s trade history, he’d probably trade him for a 6th rounder or someone in the AHL (Antarctic Hockey League).

For a good scare, check out Lombardi’s wheeling and dealing in San Jose.
He was a big time “trade youth for aging vets” GM at the time.
He even had Vernon playing the starter with Nabokov, Kiprusoff, and Toskala in the system.
He dealt the No. 1 overall pick in the year Lecavalier went 1st.
And he had a love of players like Harvey, Marchment, and Graves; instead of Mikeal Samuelsson, Jeff Friesen, and Victor Kozlov.
I think that’s why he was fired.

Wasn’t this the guy who criticized Taylor for trading Jokinen for Palffy?

Kris

Fro’, Boyle, (restricted this year I believe), and Hickey, and a 2010 first to Buffalo for Stafford, Mair, and Gerbe.

My wife is from Buffalo, so I see probably about 30-35 games a year for the past 4 or 5 years plus the playoffs.

Stafford is going to be a consistent 25 goal scorer and is efficient on the PP. Mair is the perfect guy to have on your 3/4 line. His motor is non stop, he plays hard, and will stick up for anyone on the team at any point despite being a bit undersized…and yes he used to be a King. Gerbe is going to be a star in this league. I got to see him at BC a lot. Small guy but boy can he score. Great hands. All the potential in the world. Yes, as Kings fans we hate to hear the word “potential” but I think by the middle of next year he will stick for good in the NHL. Buffalo has brought him up a few times this year just to get him some experience.

Ersberg

Kris-That’s a riot. I love coming up with crazy trade scenarios, but I given DL’s track record, I wouldn’t discount something happening similar to that scenario, minus Heatley.

Cristo-I’ve read of a lot of speculation TM is an “interim” coach to get these guys going before getting the next level coach invloved in the picture.
Adding to that line of thinking, I’m starting to believe DL is “re-build” GM, and that he’ll be gone once ownership feels it’s time to take it to the next level.

What do you think?

KingFan4ever

It’s nice to see the Kings punk the overrated Bruins. Like clockwork, they’ll lose to Carolina or Montreal in the first round.

cristobal

Ersberg,

I think you may be hearing correctly.
In reality, I don’t like criticizing Murray (he seems like a genuinely GREAT person), but I don’t believe he’s got the entire package as a head coach.
I was skeptical of Crawford, and I’m skeptical of Murray.
I was hoping Lombardi would have brought in some one fresh, someone new.
I tend to hope for a Euro coach because I think the league is becoming more of a skill/resolve league than a punch-’em-up league.
Personally, I like to imagine Igor Larionov as our head coach.

As for Lombardi, I just think he’s taken too many steps backwards and that he doesn’t really think for himself. i.e. – he “consults” with his inferiors on the direction of the team.
I actually believe he’s done a better job of drafting in Los Angeles now that he’s settled in a bit (I’ve never been too impressed with his San Jose drafting), but as far as signings and trades I feel he’s been taken advantage of A LOT.

I’m all in favor of these two making me eat my words and somehow playing out the end of the season with a hot streak to make the post-season, but I don’t believe they can do it.
But, we’ve seen Hyde turn into Jeckyll a few times this season….so….

Who knows, maybe Williams WILL be the spark this team needs.
But I still disagree with the trade (nothing against Williams).

Anonymous

cristobal –

sorry but your DL stats have so many holes it’s not even funny. So I’m sorry but I must embarrass you now.

“He even had Vernon playing the starter with Nabokov, Kiprusoff, and Toskala in the system. ”

You mean the Mike Vernon that Lombardi got via trade in 99-00, two years after he won the Conn Smythe trophy as MVP of the playoffs? The one he traded for to use for 2 seasons until Nabokov was ready? And by Nabokov do you mean the same Nabokov he drafted IN THE 9TH ROUND who, once he had been groomed in the minors long enough, came to the NHL and WON THE CALDER? And the Kiprusoff and Toskola who DEAN DRAFTED in the 4th and 5th rounds in the same draft? Once they were groomed in the minors long enough, Dean now had to let one of them go because as we all know, there’s no room for 3 good goalies on one roster. Those two weren’t even close to being ready when Vernon was playing, so nice try.

“He dealt the No. 1 overall pick in the year Lecavalier went 1st.”

Lecavalier was drafted in the 1998 draft first overall. In the season leading up to that draft (1997-1998), the Sharks finished 4th in the Pacific Division and made the playoffs. Not only would it be impossible for them to have the first overall pick during that draft which you say DL traded away, they actually had the 12th overall pick. Tampa Bay finsihed the season with 17 wins, but had traded their first round pick to Florida previously. In what was some sort of twisted 4 team deal between the 3 bottom feeders Tampa, Nashville (expansion team), Florida, and somehow DL’s Sharks, if you do some research before spewing your hatred, you would see that DL traded up to get THE 3RD OVERALL PICK in that draft to take Brad Stuart, plus getting Nashville’s 2nd rounder to select Cheechoo. The Sharks never actually HAD the 1st overall pick, it was basically all worked out with the 4 teams involved so Tampa ended up with their 1st overall so they could select Vinny. But I like how only focus on the trade in a way that is totally out of context to make it look bad for DL.

“And he had a love of players like Harvey, Marchment, and Graves; instead of Mikeal Samuelsson, Jeff Friesen, and Victor Kozlov”

Here’s a little exerpt from DL’s wiki page I dug up:

“Upon taking over for the Sharks, he was widely criticized for signing veterans, which turned out to be beneficial as Lombardi acquired veterans while stockpiling the team’s farm system with homegrown talent. During his tenure as Sharks’ GM, he drafted Patrick Marleau, Brad Stuart, Scott Hannan, Marco Sturm and Marcel Goc in the first round along with Evgeni Nabokov, Vesa Toskola, Mikka Kiprusoff, Jonathan Cheechoo, Mark Smith, Ryan Clowe and Christian Erhoff in later rounds.

He also traded for established veterans like Teemu Selane, Owen Nolan, Adam Graves, Vincent Damphousse, Mike Ricci, Kyle McLaren, Mike Vernon, Todd Harvey, Bryan Marchment and Scott Thornton while developing their prospects slowly. THE TEAM WOULD INCREASE THEIR POINT TOTAL FOR 6 STRAIGHT SEASONS DURING HIS TENURE. Only Hockey Hall of Fame inductee GM Bill Torrey accomplished the same feat overseeing the dynasty of the New York Islanders in the early 1980′s”

Not too shabby I say…does that sound like a familiar way of doing things to anyone around here?

“I think that’s why he was fired.”

Again from Wiki:

“Lombardi was fired along with head coach Daryl Sutter in a housecleaning during the 200203 NHL season in which the team struggled with a slow start. This could be attributed to the lengthy contract negotiations with star goalie Nabokov.”

Hmmm….so Sutter gets fired and most people think he’s one of the greatest coaches alive, DL gets fired because of a slow start and we need to fire him now because he traded O’Sullivan….lol!!

So cristobal, please, if you hate this team, Terry Murray, and Lombardi so much, spare us the made up jabber and go post on the other Kings hate site, LTG.com. Rich works far too hard to bring us news to have to read your bad attitude and negativity day in , and day out. And I’m sure most people on here would agree with me.

Ersberg

Cristo-

I have to agree with what you’ve stated.

Larionov would be an interesting option. Has ever been a coach, though? If not, it doesn’t mean he couldn’t it.

tantrum4

That last anonymus post was from me, I don’t think the site had me signed in again even though it said i was…

nykingfan

Tantrum4

that happens to me all the time…I always preview before I send it to make sure I’m really signed in.

cristobal

More proof that plus/minus is a somewhat misleading stat:

O’Sullivan is criticised for going minus-1 in an 8-1 victory for his new team while scoring an assist on the power-play.

And Roloson will probably also be criticized for having a 25-17-9 record with a 2.72 GAA and a Save percentage of .916 on a, likewise, rebuilding team.

Ersberg

I didn’t realize Cristo was so negative. And here I thought he was just engaging in discussion, for or against particular views.

Quisp

Anonymous, re 1998 draft:

Your summary of the 1998 events is not quite accurate. Here’s what happened:

At the beginning of the 1997-98 season, DL traded Kozlov and a 5th to Florida for Dave Lowry and the 1998 1st.

Then, at the deadline, DL traded Nazarov and the Florida pick to Tampa for Bryan Marchment and David Shaw and Tampa’s 1st (the pick aspect of the trade was conditional, with Tampa getting whichever pick was higher).

It took seven months for those trades to go down. Now, the Florida pick (which eventually was the #1 overall) became much more valuable after DL acquired it and Florida proceeded to suck. But it’s also true that DL could have chosen to hold onto that pick in order to pick VL, as Tampa ultimately did. But he obviously was more interested in picking Stuart, than LaCavalier or Legwand.

However, the overlooked key to this trade is the 2nd round Nashville pick, which DL used to select Jonathan Cheecho.

And of course, although Brad Stuart is kind of a rip-off when compared one-on-one to VL, it’s important to note that he was the biggest piece of the Thornton trade. Now, DL didn’t make that trade. But he was responsible for the assets that made the trade possible. In addition to Stuart, the other piece of the puzzle was Marco Sturm, who DL not only drafted but drafted with Chicago’s 1st round pick, which he got in exchange for two second round picks.

So, DL did pass up the chance to get VL. It’s true. But what he got out of it was, ultimately, Cheecho and a piece of Joe Thornton. Which works for me.

Weird footnote: DL dealt Marchment to the Avs in 2003 — about a week before he was fired — for picks that became Ryan Donnelly and…Brad Richardson.

cristobal

Quisp,

Also in error was the contention that DL drafted Nabokov, Toskala, and Kiprusoff, when in actuality, he did not draft any of them.

One more issue is that a key in the Thornton for Sturm, Stuart, and Primeau trade was that it took an incredibly inept GM in Boston to want to get rid of Joe Thornton for a mess of pottage.
In my opinion, it’s a bridge too far to credit DL with that at all because Stuart, especially, was a shadow of the player he had been his first couple of seasons, thus Boston wasn’t interested in keeping him on board.

BTW, it’s incredibly that you were able to break down that No. 1 pick scenario so clearly. Thanks.

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